The Burrow Champion
by ManOfVoid
Summary: Four friends set up a duelling competition. Will they find out who's the Burrow Champion?
1. Day 1

_Author's note: I wrote this little story because I wanted to examine the prospect of the four friends duelling each other. I wanted a plausible, canon compliant approach; a set of duels a reader could believe they could happen in Rowling's world. (Although I may have exaggerated Hermione's skills.)_

_Disclaimer: All characters and places by J. K. Rowling._

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The Burrow Champion

Day 1

Harry sat in the Burrow garden, resting his back at an apple tree. His mug of butterbeer was almost empty, had been like that for a long while as he had become forgotten in his thoughts. These last free days of summer had been some of his happiest, but now his, as well as everyone else's thoughts were turning to the upcoming year at school. Harry didn't quite know what to expect of it. The last year had been especially tough, with Umbridge, the OWLs, and the unfortunate battle in the Ministry. Surely the next year would be easier. But then again, that was what he had thought every summer, until finding himself in a perilous adventure again. And with the Dark Lord gathering his strength, nothing could be taken as granted.

Not to forget the Prophecy.

Harry sighed, and finally took the finishing sip from his mug. "Ron, I've been thinking", he said.

Ron lay flat on the lawn a meter from Harry, his legs crossed, his arms behind his head, a worn straw hat shading his eyes from the sun and looked like he was sleeping. "If it's not about going and getting another butterbeer, I don't want to hear about it," he muttered in a lazy tone.

"That's not a bad idea, either," Harry chuckled, "But no, I've been thinking about Voldemort and everything. And that back in the Ministry we got into a fight I wasn't ready for, and it went all bollocks."

Ron sat up, and fully opened his eyes. "I thought we did pretty damn good! None of us got killed."

"Sirius got killed," Harry stated dryly.

"Oh, right. Yeah," Ron stammered. "Sorry about reminding you of that."

"Anyway, you're missing my point. It's just that the prophecy…" His voice trailed out.

Ron stared at him gloomily. "I know. You're to kill You-Know-Who if he doesn't kill you first. That prophecy. Unless there's more of them and you've not told us."

"No, no! No secrets from you and Hermione," Harry said quickly, and glanced behind at the porch where his other best friend was reading her book, seemingly oblivious to the world. "I guess, what I really mean is that if I'm ever going to have any chance against Voldemort, then I need to take my head out of my arse and do something – constructive. The DA was a start, but it didn't develop my skills personally. I need to prepare. I need to practice spells. Duelling. All that kind of stuff."

"I don't think any amount of duelling practice is going to help you in a duel against Voldemort," said Hermione unexpectedly, not taking his eyes off the book. "He's just too powerful."

The boys looked at her, then at each other. "So, you say that I shouldn't start and practice fighting? I should just lay down and wait until either one of us drops dead and hope it's not me?" Harry said.

"No, of course I'm not saying that," Hermione retorted, and finally looked at them with a frown. "Practice is always good, as well as taking your head out of – you know. But the prophecy doesn't say anything about you having to duel Him, specifically. There must be something else in that. But what I do believe is that you may need to fight your way to Him before you can deliver the finishing blow. Or something like that. And He will do everything he can to stop you." She paused and looked at him intently. "So, if you really want and start preparing, I'm all behind you. Even if it's duelling you want to do. Should become handy against Death Eaters at least."

Hermione turned her attention back to the book. Ron watched Harry quietly a while, and then said, "So… What do you want to do then?"

Harry stood up. "I don't know. I really don't. But duelling practice is just as good a start as anything. So please, duel with me, Ron. Simple spells, nothing dangerous or too powerful. We'll just begin with that and see where it takes us."

"Okay, I can do that."

They stepped through a gate in the garden fence and walked on to an open area that also served as a quidditch field. On one side the area was restricted by the fence, then there was a barn house on the other side, and the rim of the forest a little further. They stood a little apart, took a standard duelling stance and started exchanging the spells. It was clear from the beginning that Harry was the more skilled one, as his spells frequently connected with Ron while Ron only rarely made a hit at him. Every once in a while, they paused to discuss or make adjustments to the rules of the duel. If was mostly fun for either of them, and Hermione doubted if their practice would be of any use in a real fight against Death Eaters. But it was a start, maybe they'd eventually get somewhere. She was about to focus back to her book when the door opened, and Ginny walked out.

"What's all this racket?" asked the redhead.

"The boys are playing Aurors and Death Eaters again," said Hermione with a smirk. "Oh, it's just a duelling practice, as you can see."

Ginny watched them a while. "Should they be taking this more seriously? Even I could take them out," she said, just a bit too loud for Ron to overhear her.

"Shut it, Ginny!" he yelled. He quickly glared at the girls on the porch, and the distraction cost him. Harry's tripping jinx hit him full force, and he fell down on his face into dirt.

The others burst into laugh as Ron got up, his face red with embarrassment but then even he chuckled. "Okay, that was fun. Now piss off! Harry wanted duelling practice and you're distracting."

His tone annoyed her. "I'm serious, actually," Ginny said. "I could take you out, Ron." She descended to the lawn and walked over to the gate.

"Huh? No bloody way!" Ron said. "And before you think of it, I'm not fighting my little sister just to prove a point." He turned back to Harry and took a duelling stance, but Ginny stepped in front of him.

"Really? Well, Ron, I challenge you," Ginny said, poking his chest with her finger, "to the duel. And if you're too scared of humiliation and decline, I'll just hex you anyway."

"Come on, Ron," Harry replied with a snicker. "She's not so little anymore. You've seen her in the DA. She is quite good, really. Maybe we could use an opponent with a little bit different style of duelling. And with a proper choice of spells to keep everyone safe, it may be really fun."

Ginny's jaw dropped. "Fun? Safe! Harry Potter! Are you patronizing me?" she fumed, but there was an amused flicker in her eyes.

"I… What? Of course not!" said the dumbstruck Harry.

"Yes, you are!" she said, "You know, I think there's only one way to solve this matter. We're going to have a duelling tournament."

Harry and Ron looked at each other in shock, then at Ginny, as she continued. "First I'm to kick your arse," she said to her brother, but quickly changed her mind, spinning around to face Harry, "No, on a second thought, it has to be your arse first, and then Ron's."

"Why…. why me first?" Harry asked, not quite keeping up with her.

"Because you're better than him. I may need my element of surprise," she said, and grinned like only she could. "Hermione, you want a piece of them, too, after I've softened them up for you?"

The older girl frowned and looked like she didn't want to leave her book. Then she made up her mind, stood up, and with a confident smile she joined the others at the opening. "I wouldn't want to miss a chance."

The boys, once again, looked at each other, and shaking their heads wondered how they had gotten themselves in this situation. But there was no going back, they had to duel with the girls. After all, it might be fun, even somewhat exciting.

"Is it okay if we go on with the rules we already set out with Ron?" Harry asked, and explained. "We should have no more than three spells each that we can use: a stunning spell, a shield spell, and one free choice spell. Nothing that will injure, nothing that will leave a mark, nothing too dangerous, you know the drill. We're all friends here and I'd like to keep it that way! And you can't change the free choice spell during the tournament. The duel goes on until you're stunned, or you lose your wand." Everyone nodded an agreement. "I was using a Punching hex as my free choice spell earlier. I think I'll take that one. What about you, Ron?"

Ron cleared his throat and thought about it. "I don't want to take the same as you, Harry. So, let's say a Tripping jinx."

"Ginny?"

"Hmm. Maybe a Stinging hex," she said, still pondering her choice.

"A Stinging hex. Really?"

"Really," she confirmed, now with certainty.

"The Stinging hex is not exactly a combat spell," Ron said.

"Nor is your Tripping jinx!"

"Your funeral."

"We'll see about that."

"Hermione?"

"I have some ideas, but I haven't decided yet. If it's okay, I'll think about it during the first match," Hermione said. The others agreed, and the first pair, Harry and Ginny, faced up against each other. Ron and Hermione moved out of the way, behind the fence.

"Combatants ready?" Ron shouted. "Begin!"

Harry had thought of a witty one-liner to shout at Ginny to start the match but yelped "Shite!" instead when her first hex took him completely off guard and hit his shoulder before he could open his mouth. It hurt; it really did. His shoulder felt like it was on fire. "What the hell was that?"

Ginny coolly rested her wand on her shoulder. "A Stinging hex. It's an improved version that Tonks taught me. Quite annoying, don't you think?"

Harry glared Ginny as if she had somehow managed to twist the rules. The sharp pain was already diminishing into a mere nuisance and he was ready to retaliate. He abruptly sent a Punching hex at her, and then quickly a second one while she sidestepped them one after another. She shot her stunner at him, but he saw it coming miles away, and easily blocked it with a shield spell, then replied with a barrage of three punches, following her path of movement as she tried to duck them. The first two barely missed her, but the last one hit her into her upper body, taking her down to ground.

Harry's heart skipped a beat with the fear of his hex hurting Ginny. She went down with it, but then nimbly used her momentum to roll over and bring her back to a standing position. "That was it?" she yelped with surprise. "That was your great Punching hex?" Her eyes narrowed as she shot another stunner at him. "You're afraid of hitting a girl, aren't you?"

Her stunner was strong, as Harry was able to tell when his shield vibrated with its energy. He almost let his shield fall to make a strike himself, but then had to concentrate again to keep it up. Ginny's stingers rapped against the shield at breath-taking frequency, and Harry quickly understood the reason behind her choice of spell. While the Stinging hex was, unlike a properly delivered Punching hex, not powerful in combat situations, it provided a fine distraction when it hit. And Ginny was incredibly fast to cast it. Somehow one of her stingers ended up either through or more probably around his shield, and it hit his left ankle. The sudden pain made him lose his concentration and his shield collapsed.

Harry knew that his ankle was physically just fine, and dared to shift his weight on it, but his nervous system wasn't yet agreeing. He awkwardly fumbled down to his left, and Ginny's stunner missed him by an inch. Kneeling on the ground, he saw her firing another stunning spell at him, and forced his shield up again. The hasty shield absorbed most of the stunner, but some of it got through, and he got blasted backwards with the remaining force. Numbness tried to take him but as there had been barely any magic left in the stunner, he quickly fought it off. Struggling to get up to his feet again, he saw Ginny approach him warily with her wand poised at him, and he shot a hurried pair of punches at her. As she had to protect herself with a shield, he took the time to stand up.

After that, the battle went on for several minutes and neither of them could gain an upper hand. The exchange of spells resumed with fierce intensity, but surprisingly, quickly diminished as the combatants became wary of one another's attacks. Harry was developing a solid fear against Ginny's stingers which came in series and were somehow always taking him by surprise. And Ginny, after taking a direct hit of a couple of Harry's Punching hexes, understood that the boy had finally found out that she could take them as well as anyone and that he wasn't going to hold back anymore. And that scared her a little more than she was willing to admit.

It was also becoming imminent that they both were beginning to tire, both due to the extensive use of magic and the physical activity of dodging. While fighting off the effects of yet another stinger, Harry dodged yet another Ginny's stunner, and began advancing towards her with a desperate war cry. He shot his strongest punch he could muster, followed by another, and another, until nothing but a spark got out of his wand.

Ginny saw him approaching and raised her shield. The first punch hit it with such power that she thought it would collapse right away. Yet it held. The second one not only demolished her shield completely but also made her stumble a few steps back. She instinctively raised her arms to protect herself from the last blow which eventually threw her down and several meters backwards. The fall pushed the breath away from her lungs, yet adrenaline told her to get up and keep fighting. She gathered the energy to lift her wand arm at Harry, only to find out that her wand was missing. With the realization of defeat, exhaustion finally took over her, and she slumped to her back and just panted.

Harry, too, was down, gathering his breath on his knees. He had watched her fall as if in slow motion, and he had seen her wand clatter down behind her as his last Punching hex had found her arm. When she had momentarily tried to get up, he had known that she was unharmed, and the relief had taken the last bit of his energy away. Only then he became aware of the spectators again.

"Bloody hell, Ginny!" Ron yelled, checking on his sister while Hermione took care of Harry. "That was brilliant!"

"Well, thanks, but I lost anyway," Ginny said, now angry for herself. She hadn't seriously believed in her chances against Harry at first. Harry was the Boy Who Lived, he was their DA teacher, and he had confronted Voldemort more often than any wizard alive. But then she had surprisingly been able hold her own against him. And now, with her competitive nature, the narrow defeat frustrated her. "I was so close having his arse kicked!" she shouted, her fists pummelling the ground.

"Ginny, my arse does feel like it's been kicked," Harry said with a grunt, and awkwardly stood up. He rubbed the itching bits of his skin, then lifted his shirt to check the damage. The spots where Ginny's Stinging hexes had hit him were bright red. "Uh, Ginny," he said. "Are you sure that they'll wear off."

"Don't be such a baby, Harry," Ginny retorted with a smirk. "They'll be gone by tomorrow. Besides, I'm sure I have a few bruises myself that I'll find hard to explain mum."

"But," Harry began with a flushing face, and lowered his voice to a whisper almost. "But they look like hickies! And I have some on my neck. There's no way I can hide them."

"Shite. Mum's gonna flip," Ron said. Ginny snickered, but then she realized that it wouldn't be Hermione who'd be taking the blame of making hickeys to Harry, and her smile froze.

Harry sighed, and decided there was nothing he could do about it. He would have to avoid Mrs. Weasley or be prepared for funny faces and a lecture about chastity. Neither option sounded appealing. "Okay, Ron," he then said. "You and Hermione next. Ginny, let's get out of the way."

They all took their positions. "Combatants ready?" Harry yelled and looked at each of them to catch their eyes. "Begin!"

Ron had decided to throw out a quick Tripping jinx, and then bring his shield up against whatever Hermione might have planned for him. He raised his wand but then took a look at her and froze with hesitation. Hermione stood completely still. Her eyes were closed, and she looked defenceless and delicate – and beautiful. It took a second or two for Ron to realize that her lips were moving, she was whispering something, and the tip of her wand was making funny little twists. _This couldn't be good._

He yelled the incantation for the Tripping jinx as soon as he came back to his senses, but it came out ill aimed and slow. Hermione flashed her eyes open and barely had to move to dodge it. Then she thrusted her wand ahead, and a greenish light shot out at ground a couple of meters in front of her. Suddenly, as the light faded, there stood an acromantula the size of a large dog. Ron cried in horror as the giant spider scooted at him, leaving a faint cloud of dust behind. He retreated, shooting stunning spells, and screaming all the time, his voice high pitched and tense with panic. He actually hit the monster several times, but each hit did nothing more than made it jump back a little, before advancing at him again. Just as the spider was about to leap and bite its jaws on him, he got contacted by Hermione's stunner. Ron's world went black.

"Well, that was even quicker than I anticipated," Ginny said, a little bit shaken by Hermione's efficiency. Hermione pointed her wand at the spider and with little resistance sucked it back to where it had come from. Harry revived Ron.

"Is it gone? Am I dead?" Ron yelped under the first gasps of breath.

"Yes, it's gone, and you're okay," Harry said, and pulled him up.

"Bloody hell, Hermione! I thought the rules were clear. Nothing dangerous!" Ron shouted.

"Take it easy, Ron," Hermione replied coolly, "I assure you that you were perfectly safe all the time."

"Yeah? It was already about to bite me. I like being safe with my head still on!"

"Ron! I know what I'm doing. I'm sorry that thing freaked you out, but I would never do anything to hurt you. You have to know that!"

She was very close now and he could not help but notice how nice her scent was. Her hands lay on his shoulders, her gaze was honest with a plea, and Ron found his agitation melt away. "Yeah, I know. Sorry for snapping." He gave her a little nudge on her arm, and chortled, "It was a scary spider, though. I never stood a chance. Good thinking, Hermione."

The girl beamed for his praise. "Thanks, Ron. I'm glad we're okay. Next pair up then!" It looked like the most reluctant duellist in the beginning had now become the most eager one. "Are you ready to go up against Ginny? Maybe I should let you catch your breath and duel Harry first," she blabbered.

"Fine, I can go with you first, Hermione," Harry laughed. "I'm still a bit sore from Ginny's stingers, but I think knowing that you'll be conjuring a giant spider will even the odds. I'm not as scared of arachnids as Ron."

"Why do you think it's an acromantula I'm about to summon?" Hermione asked smugly.

"Because once you use the Summon Spider charm, you'll have to stick with it until the end of the tournament. Those are the rules, Hermione," Harry emphasized.

"Yes, the rules. I get it. Whatever you say." But her smile only grew wider.

Shaking off his suspicions Harry moved to his place. He closed his eyes to calm down, took a deep breath, exhaled, and cracked his neck side to side. He glanced at Ginny who was there to set them off and nodded at her to announce his readiness. It was not until that point when he looked at Hermione and took the stance, when he saw that she was already muttering her spell, and her wand made those same twists than with Ron earlier. She was taking a false start. Strictly speaking it might have been against the duelling rules, but it was on a grey area, and Harry was ready to allow it. It really didn't matter that much, he thought.

Indeed, as soon as Ginny announced the start of the battle, they both sprang to action. Harry shoot two Punching hexes at Hermione in order to intercept her spider conjuring. Hermione concentrated on the spell of her own and didn't even see them coming. Yet she was obviously expecting Harry to do exactly what he did, as she quickly dropped herself flat to the ground, and his hexes sailed over her head. At the same time, she pointed her wand ahead, emitting the familiar bright, greenish light.

But to Harry's horror, what appeared was nothing like a spider. The monster was vastly bigger, the size of an African elephant with four short legs, two curvy horns, a whip-like tail, and purple skin. He heard Ron swearing loudly and Ginny letting out a short scream. Harry had planned his tactics with an expectance of a spider, and while this new monster briefly distracted him, his confusion only lasted a moment. He raised his shield just in time to block Hermione's stunner, but then the beast was on him.

Harry dived left, out of the way, and its own momentum took it far behind him before the breaks kicked in. He quickly cast a stunner at Hermione, to keep her occupied. "What the hell is that thing?" he yelled.

"It's a Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" Hermione replied as her shield absorbed his spell.

"That's impossible!" Harry cried back. "They only exist in Luna's imagination!"

"Look out, Harry, maybe the Snorkack doesn't know it," Ginny shouted, pointing at the monster which had taken its turn, and was accelerating again. Harry shot his most powerful stunner at the beast, but then had to dive away again, as his spell didn't even slow it down.

"How can you claim it's the same spell?" he yelled at Hermione while ducking her stunner and then shot a quick punch at her, barely missing.

"It _is_ the same spell," Hermione said. "I do respect the rules!" She shot a stunner, not at him but at the point where she expected he would dodge the charging Snorkack.

Harry saw the stunner in time, but he didn't have room to avoid it because of the monster blocking his way. Then a desperate thought occurred to him, or more likely it was a reflex as he didn't have the luxury of conscious thinking, and he dived under the belly of the beast, and passed between the legs while casting hexes at it at the same time.

He stood up and saw, in the corner of his eye, as Ginny held an astonished smile on her face, as if she had just understood something big. "She's speaking the truth," the girl yelled at him. "It really is the same spell she's using!" Harry didn't see it when she whispered something to her brother's ear, but soon after he got a glance at Ron, eyes wide and mouthing a word "Bloody…"

Harry was having extreme trouble dodging the Snorkack while at the same time trying to fence Hermione's stunners. It left him preciously little time to attack himself, but he tried to do that in every occasion possible. And all the time his mind tried to process the odd feeling that something was off. It only got even more strange when he saw the Weasleys behind the fence again. Ron was cheering loudly at Hermione, pumping his fist up, and Ginny so caught in excitement that she had to jump, her face twisted into her widest smile. They were just all too happy, and not worried for him in the least.

He had stopped trying to hex the monster as nothing he did seemed to make the difference. It also occurred to him how lucky he had been so far with dodging. More than once he had been sure that the beast would stamp him down, but somehow it had always missed him. It had to be a kind of a safety restriction on Hermione's behalf.

_Unless… No! Could it be?_

He ducked under Hermione's stunner, and quickly shot a single Punching hex at the rampaging monster's feet. As always, it didn't slow it down. It went right through! Only dirt made a burst where his spell hit the ground.

"It's an illusion!" he yelped with astonishment. "It's not real!" And right there and then Harry realized he could easily walk through the image of a beast, and it could not hurt him more than he could touch it.

It looked like the Crumple-Horned Snorkack was getting ready for the final, desperate lunge, as it stopped in front of him, and rose to its hind legs in order to crush him down. As terrifying as it looked, Harry knew it was nothing more than a clever trick. Yet the human instinct to dodge was strong, and the beast's body also blocked his view at Hermione. He took a step left – and walked straight into Hermione's stunner.

The light gradually returned, and three fuzzy figures appeared in Harry's view. "Are you okay?" Hermione's voice asked.

"Yeah," Harry replied, and his eyesight was quickly normalizing. He saw his friends were smiling widely, and he could only do the same. "It was an Illusion charm, Hermione! But I've never seen even Professor Flitwick do a better one. I mean, there were skid marks and mud flying and everything. That was incredible!" He laughed heartily with the relief of the terrible monster not being real, and finished with his uncanny Flitwick imitation, "Fifty points to Gryffindor!"

While Harry was having his fun with the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, Mrs. Weasley sat in the Burrow living room, knitting a jumper. To be exact, she was using her magic to knit two jumpers simultaneously while reading a used Witch Weekly magazine that her neighbour always saved for her. It was only August, but Molly Weasley had learned the hard way that you could never start too early. After all, she did have a husband and seven children of her own, as well as two youngsters whom she almost had come to consider as her own already, and maybe a few others. And they each would receive a jumper for Christmas. At the moment she was working on Arthur's and Bill's since they were the same size, and therefore easy to knit in tandem. She would leave Ron and Harry's jumpers last, as she didn't dare to estimate how much they'd still grow over autumn. And perhaps Ginny, too. Molly frowned. She doubted Ginny would grow much in height, but were the girl anything like her mother, she was soon to receive a prominent addition to her bust circumference. Thankfully, she was skinny. Better make her jumper a loose size, though.

_How fast did her babies grow!_

And the twins! The house had been so quiet since the twins moved out. They'd still spend some nights at the Burrow, but mostly they were in their shop. Those two had always something suspicious going on, and it usually ended up with a bang. Sooner or later there would be a bang. That was why Molly was so happy to hear the ruckus and uproar from the backyard. It made her home feel Home. And as long there was noise, she wouldn't worry about everyone's well-being. She'd start worrying once it becomes silent. But it wouldn't hurt to check on the youngsters every now and then. She put her knitting work down and headed to the kitchen.

A minute later she appeared at the back door with a basket containing four mugs and a jug. "Hello dears," she said. "You must be thirsty. Have some pumpkin juice." She eyed the kids. They were having a break by the open gate of the backyard fence. They were dirty, bruised, stained, and sweaty. All except Hermione, unsurprisingly. And Harry was taking too much time tying his shoelaces. _What was he hiding?_

"Is it some muggle sports you're up to again? Like quidditch without brooms?" she asked, trying to keep her voice unsuspicious.

The kids looked at each other and couldn't hold back the laugh. "Yes, it's the, _um_, boollyfoot," Ginny said, as she sprang up to take the basket from her mum.

"Football," Hermione corrected.

"But we lost the ball into bushes," said Ron quickly before her mother would ask them about a non-existing ball. Harry enthusiastically nodded behind Ron's shoulder.

Molly paused and looked at them each a moment too long, giving the teens a feeling that she was on to them. "Well, go on then. But be careful. I'll be in the kitchen making dinner if you need me," she said, passing the basked to Ginny.

"Thanks, mum," the girl said happily. "We really needed this."

"You're welcome. And Harry!" Molly said, already walking away.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Harry responded too quickly, and swallowed.

"I recognize a love bite a mile away. With seven children and all the practice of my own so many years back, I should have the experience. Those, my dear, whatever they are, are not hickeys. If they still itch when it's bedtime, come to me and I'll find you an ointment." With that said, she went in and closed the door, grinning at the bursts of laughter from outside.

"Ron, Ginny, you're next," Harry said when everyone had downed their juice and had a short rest. The siblings nodded and moved out to the duelling arena.

"_Okay, tactics_", Ron thought, as he waited for Harry to set them off. "_She'll have a lightning fast start. I need to begin moving so that she can't hex me. Send a Tripping jinx at her while dodging. Then stun her when she's going down. Move – trip – dodge – stun. Should be easy. Move – trip – dodge – stun._"

"Begin!" Harry yelled.

Ron began to strafe to his right, at the same time casting his Tripping jinx at Ginny. Her first Stinging hex missed him, but all too soon came the next one, and the next, and still two more that hit him as he wasn't nearly agile enough to dodge them all. Ron saw his jinx hit Ginny, and he would have felt triumphant had there not been several stingers overloading his nerves. All major muscles cramped, and he fell. "_Got to – dodge – stun – breathe,_" he thought, fighting for regaining the control of his body.

Ginny felt a bit overwhelmed by the fact that she had not been able to dodge Ron's attack which had been almost as quick as her own. The Tripping jinx swept her legs off, and her body met the dirt the same time with Ron's. But unlike Ron, she still had control over her upper body. She twisted herself so that she was directly facing Ron and with a careful aim shot her stunner at the practically petrified brother of hers. The duel was over in seven seconds.

Harry and Hermione ran to congratulate Ginny and lifted her up to her feet. She was still somewhat unsteady but smiled widely as she heavily leaned on Harry for support while Hermione revived Ron. The poor boy cried in agony until the stings eased off. It helped a lot as Hermione held him and soothed.

"I told you I can beat you," Ginny gloated when he had calmed down a bit.

"Yeah," Ron replied quietly. "You don't have to rub it in. I knew you'd be tough when I saw your duel with Harry. Congratulations, Gin."

"Gee, thanks Ron."

"You did very well, too, Ron," Hermione said in supportive tone. "It was a good duel. Short, but good. You were quite evenly matched, could've ended up either way."

"Nicely said, Hermione," Ron said, and finally dared a faint smile. "I didn't have the chance to see it that way myself as I was so busy becoming hexed. Rematch tomorrow, Ginny?"

"Of course, dear brother," Ginny grinned. "Whenever you feel the need for humiliation, you just come to me."

"So, only two pairs to go. Who wants to be next?" Harry asked.

"_Nah_, I think I'm done," Ron said, and slowly stood up. "I feel plastered enough for today. Besides, Harry already whipped me before we even began this tournament. So, it's going to be you, girls."

"Okay, I'm ready in a moment. My legs feel like my own again," Ginny said, and reluctantly detached herself from Harry's supporting embrace. She jumped up and down to refresh her muscles and looked at Hermione. "Unless someone else wants to give up, too."

"Why would I give up?" said the brunette, raising her eyebrows. "I'm the only undefeated one."

"Well, the illusion sort of loses the edge when everyone knows it's an illusion."

"Oh, I think I still have an ace or two in my sleeve," Hermione said, grinning.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Ron announced, "The final event of the day! The most anticipated match of summer. Catfight of the year. On the left corner, the contender, the Burrow Constrictor, Miss Ginnnyyy Weassleyyy!" The crowd, i.e. Harry, went wild with applauses. Ginny's glare told Ron just what she thought about her new stage name. "On the right, the defending champion, the Mad-Eye Muggle, Miss Hermiooneeee Grangeeer!" The crowd went equally wild again. Hermione rolled her eyes – madly.

Ron quickly jumped over the fence and took cover behind the laughing Harry. "Begin when ready!"

Then nothing happened. The girls just stood there, watching each other warily. "I'd like to see the monster you've got planned for me," Ginny said at last, "before I step through it and finish you off."

"How very thoughtful of you, giving me a chance," Hermione said. "I'll try to make you regret it, though. Thanks, Ginny." She concentrated and did the required spell casting things. She opened her eyes but halted right before she'd cast the actual illusion. "Any guesses?" she asked the others with half of a smile.

"A dragon," said Ron immediately. "It has to be a dragon. It's the only thing that's bigger and scarier than what we've seen already."

"I don't know, Ron," Harry said. "She always does the unexpected thing. Maybe it won't be a monster at all."

"You may be on to something, Harry," Ginny pondered. "I was – just before mum delivered the pumpkin juice – wondering how scary she sometimes is when she really puts her mind into it. No offence, Hermione."

"None taken," Hemione said, wondering where the younger girl was heading at.

"That made me think of what would be scarier than Hermione. And the obvious answer is, well, two Hermione's would be scarier than one. I bet she's making an illusion copy of herself, maybe even more than one, so that I wouldn't know which one to hit."

Hermione almost dropped her wand. "Ginny, you don't know how close you guessed! I was thinking about doing exactly that. But then I discarded the idea because so far, I can only make one feasible copy of me, and that wouldn't last long as you could easily hex each one until you found the real me." She paused and raised her wand. "So, eventually I came to think of this kind of a monster." The greenish light shot out again.

Ginny gasped when she saw Hermione's illusion. She was expecting the unexpected, yet nothing quite like this. Standing right between her and Hermione, there was a wall. A solid-looking redbrick monstrosity of a wall, twice the height of an average man, and twice as wide as it was tall. In spite of her shock Ginny didn't forget to raise her shield, and she managed to do it in plenty of time before Hermione's stunner arrived.

The wall completely blocked the view to Hermione so that Ginny couldn't see her. But obviously, Hermione had way to see where Ginny was, as her second stunner hit Ginny's shield again straight into middle, even though the younger girl had moved aside.

Now recovered from the surprise, Ginny grinned, and holding her shield up she approached the wall in order to walk through. But it wasn't as simple as she had imagined. When she moved forward, the wall moved with her to the same direction. She took a few quick steps to her left. The wall moved with her. And then things were about to get from bad to worse, as the far edges of the wall were bending ahead, obscuring even more of Ginny's view. She supposed eventually the wall would form a complete circle around her.

Suddenly, Hermione's stunner came towards her from the flank, bouncing off from the very edge of her shield, and barely missing her. Ginny quickly shot a few Stinging hexes at the general direction where the stunner had come from, and then raised her shield again. Her eyes narrowed as she considered her options. She couldn't just dash through the wall. Hermione could be anywhere and might easily get a stunner in from the flank, or even from behind. And she couldn't rely too much on her shield anymore, as Hermione would be using the cover of the wall to go around to her backside. Sometimes she heard light steps from the other side of the wall, or a twig snapping, and that gave her a general idea of where Hermione was. Too soon the circle closed, and wherever she looked at she would see the wall only.

Then at last came the moment Ginny saw her chance. It had been a gamble, but Ginny had been expecting it when Hermione shot a stunner at Ginny from behind. She had heard Hermione's steps. She had faked that she'd have any idea of Hermione's position. She relied on her quidditch-trained reflexes when she dodged the incoming stunner. She rolled left, swung around, and shot four or five quick stingers with some spread towards the source of the stunner. There was a gasp, a muffled squeak, and the wall flickered when Hermione's concentration became distracted. The wall resumed quickly but Ginny had already gotten a glimpse of the other girl's exact position.

Ginny reacted immediately. She shot one stunner at Hermione, knowing she would have to pull her shield up. Then, as she sprinted towards her, she fired stingers as rapidly as possible. Passing through the wall reminded her of the sensation of entering platform 9¾. And then she was on the other side. Hermione was already moving sideways, about to dodge her continuous flow of Stinging hexes, but Ginny adjusted her aim so that Hermione didn't have a moment to let the shield down and use a stunner instead.

The last few steps closed the gap between the girls.

Hermione's shield may have been the best defence against most kind of magical attacks, but it was useless against the 47-kilo projectile of lean muscle and icy determination that was Ginny Weasley. The smaller and lighter girl leaped up, collided with the brunette at almost full speed, forced her to the ground, and ended up sitting on her waist, with the left hand gripping Hermione's wand arm by the wrist and pinning it down, and the right hand pointing a wand at her temple.

"This is where you let go of your wand," Ginny said triumphantly.

The older girl obeyed, hardly disappointed of the defeat. The wall had already vanished on itself as it needed Hermione's conscious effort to stay up, and it had become obsolete the moment Ginny had passed through. "Well played, Ginny," she said.

"Thanks. It was she scariest brick wall I've ever faced," Ginny replied, standing up. Then she offered Hermione a hand and pulled her up, too. The boys joined them, and they laughed and chatted about their duels for a long time until Mrs. Weasley called them for dinner.

In the evening, when Harry and Ron had retired up to Ron's room in order to apply Mrs. Weasley's ointment, and Hermione was washing up for bed, Ginny helped her mum clean up in the kitchen. "Had a good time today?" her mum asked.

"The best kind of," Ginny replied with a happy smile.

"Good, that's good. I hope the boys didn't give you hard time when you played."

"Don't worry, mum. Whatever they did I was able to pay them back."

"That's my girl! I'm so proud of you. Well, off to bed you go. I can take the rest from here. Thank you for your help."

"Good night, mum," Ginny said.

"Good night, dear," her mum said, giving her a kiss goodnight. "My little constrictor," she added mischievously.


	2. Day 2

The Burrow Champion

Day 2

"You have to do better than that," Harry taunted as a vicious Punching hex missed his ear by not so many inches.

"Be careful what you wish for," Ron replied, already shooting his next spell, this one aimed at Harry's legs. Harry jumped up and over the hex which was what Ron had expected. His third hex was already in the air, and Harry who was still in the process of landing and thus unable to manoeuvre himself out of the way, received a direct hit into his chest.

A surprised "_Oomph_" was all that got out of Harry's mouth, and then he was spinning in the air without control, finally landing on his stomach.

"You're okay?" Ron asked, pointing his wand down. He wasn't too worried for Harry's well-being as he had put minimum amount of strength into his spell, and he knew that Harry was in good terms with Mother Earth when those two were to collide.

"Yeah, just let me get my breath," Harry replied hoarsely. He stood up and patted some dust off of his clothes. "On the bright side, I think we now know that certain moves are not such a good idea," he said, and chuckled awkwardly.

Ron frowned as he pondered Harry's failed stunt. "Have you ever paid attention to how Moody fights?" he asked. Harry shrugged questioningly, and Ron continued. "You know, he's not moving much but he still doesn't get hit. The same goes with Tonks to lesser extent."

"That's interesting," Harry said. "What do you think is their secret?"

"I'm not sure. To me it seems that one should stay in contact with the ground as much as possible," Ron answered. "I mean, while in the air you really can't do much to change your direction. Also, the greater your moves are, the more time you spend doing them. If you can see the spell in time, you should be able to dodge it just by bending your body. And if you add a little twist, something like this," he twisted his upper body sideways and then back, "you should be able to dodge the spell and be back in your ready stance in no time."

Harry made a few dry trainings, and his face brightened. "You may be right, Ron! Let's try it at once. Five Punching hexes, fire at will."

Ron shot his hexes in a slow pace, his aim at Harry's chest. After each hex he waited for Harry to return to his stance. Harry made good use of Ron's advice and kept his feet fixed, only bending and twisting his upper body either left or right.

When all of the five hexes had missed him, it was time for a summary. "I think it was a great idea," Harry praised. "If nothing else it certainly feels more efficient. It also came to my mind that if I just continue the revolving movement when I twist, I can spin completely around and see what's happening behind me. Or perhaps I can just give it a quick glance, just by turning my head. But anyway, it may require some practise to recognise the time when it's safe to do things like that."

Ron gave him a nod for understanding. "Ready for another set?" he then asked.

"Sure, but let's switch for a while. I hex, you dodge."

Ron took his defensive stance, and Harry began firing Punching hexes at him. Instead of trying the tactics they just discussed, he used his usual ways if dodging, such as stepping aside and bending down. Nevertheless, they seemed to work as none of Harry's spells hit the target.

"Decided to use the more conventional methods then, didn't you?" Harry stated.

"You know me, I'm stiff as a poker," Ron responded. "I don't pick up physical stuff as easily as you. Maybe I'll give it a try once you've refined the idea a bit."

"You do have a point there, mate," Harry laughed. "Hey, perhaps we should ask Tonks to give us a few tips."

At the same time, Ginny sat her back against the garden fence, plaiting her hair and watching the boys having their dodging practice. She wanted nothing more than to join them and be a part of their friendly brawl, but she also wanted her quality time with Hermione who was sitting there by her side and holding a few pebbles in her hand. Hermione flicked her wand, and one after another she transfigured the pebbles into colourful butterflies.

"They're absolutely beautiful. I couldn't hope to make them out from the real ones," Ginny said, admiring her friend's work as the butterflies fluttered nicely under Hermione's command. They both smiled happily, and Ginny, with her hair at last in order, picked up another pebble. After a brief but intense concentration she transfigured it into a dragonfly. It took off from her palm and flew to hover above and around the flock of butterflies.

"Well done, Ginny," Hermione said approvingly.

"Thanks," Ginny said. "Not as good as yours, of course, but I'm pleased that it earned me full points from McGonagall in the end of term exams."

Hermione didn't bother to state the obvious, that she had a full year more of experience with transfiguration. She let one butterfly land on Ginny's hair and steered another one onto her own. They studied their creations until Harry's laughter drew their attention. He had just made another set of successful dodges and suggested Ron that they should switch roles again.

"Watch this," Ginny whispered. Grinning mischievously, she called back her dragonfly and transfigured it back into a pebble, and then into a smaller and more vicious creature.

Harry sent his punch at Ron who jumped aside easily. When the redhead was getting ready for the next hex, his attention was taken by some kind of insect which he soon identified as a wasp as it swooped at his face and prepared to land on his nose. It was more or less common knowledge that Ron hated insects. He feared spiders but hated any other creatures with more than four legs; and those with stingers came on the very top of the list. Instinctively, he swung his arm at it to scare it away while twisting himself the other direction, and coincidentally managed to dodge Harry's second punch. Then the irritating being began to buzz and circle around his head, and he frantically flailed his arms, trying to get it to leave him alone. Thus, he came to dodge the third hex by accident as well.

Harry mistook Ron's erratic movements as evasive actions. He huffed in appreciation for his best mate's improved efforts and decided to put in more of his skills. He sent the next punch directly at Ron's head, and the final one a half a meter below, anticipating that Ron would bend down.

The wasp was now about to enter Ron's ear. To avert that, he crouched down and clapped his hands together over his head to swat the insect between them. One of Harry's punches sailed over, but the last one hit Ron right into his face, and he got thrown to his back.

"Got to be faster, mate," Harry laughed and victoriously raised his hands into air while performing a little, silly dance number.

But Ron just lay there on his back, holding his hands over his face and groaning silently. It took Harry a while to notice that his duelling partner was not getting up and as soon as he did, he stopped his celebrations. "Ron?"

"Oh, Harry! You can be so thick sometimes!" said a voice from the fence, and soon after Hermione passed Harry in a rush. "Don't you see he's hurt?" She ran to Ron and helped him sit up. Only then did Harry see blood that ran over his best mate's cheeks, dripping down to his shirt. And there was so much of it.

"Shite, Harry!" came Ron's muffled cry, his words garbled so that they were hard to make out. "You broke my nose!"

"Take it easy, Ron," Hermione soothed. "Let's go inside. I'm sure your mum has plenty of experience patching you guys up." She pulled him up and began to steer him towards Burrow back door.

Harry finally recovered from his shock that had kept him frozen and took a step towards his best friend. "Ron, I'm sorry," he stammered.

"No, Harry, stay away!" Ron yelled, pointing one index finger at Harry while holding his bleeding nose in his other hand. "Just… stay away."

Harry stopped and opened his mouth, but in the last moment he bit back the words suggesting that Ron was overreacting. While his conscious mind told him that it was nothing but an accident, Ron would be healed, he would come to his senses, and everything would be fine again, right now he could do nothing but watch as his two best friends walked away from him and entered the house.

"He'll be alright," Ginny said, pouting. "Mum will fix him. Take my word; she's seen worse. Much worse."

Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she didn't look at him, just stared into nothingness. Harry saw something was bothering her and guessed the reason. He didn't like it when she was upset, and he found that he liked it especially little now when she seemed to be upset at him. "Listen, Ginny. I'm sorry I hurt your brother," he said tentatively, suddenly unable to look at her face. "I guess I should have been more careful. I promise it won't happen again."

"No, that's… What do you mean?" Ginny asked. Her automatic reaction had been to brush his needless apologies away, but then she looked at him curiously and quickly caught his line of thought. She had been so preoccupied with reproaching herself for Ron getting hurt that she hadn't stopped to think of how Harry felt. Of course, the boy felt guilty; it had been his hex. And of course, that would lead him to think that she was now upset because of _his_ actions.

She gave him a sad smile. "Harry, I'm not upset at you. First of all, it was an accident that tend to happen in duels, and you know it. Second, it was not your fault! It was mine. You didn't realize it, but I had transfigured a wasp and I distracted him with it. It was meant to be nothing but a harmless joke."

"Oh? Okay," Harry said, immediately feeling a little lighter. He came to realize that her opinion mattered to him more than he had imagined.

He gave her a glance just as she looked away again. "Anyway, he should have been able to handle it," she continued. "In a real fight you can't let a wasp interfere your concentration."

"In a real fight I trust that he could have made it," Harry responded in Ron's defence, perhaps a little more snappishly than he intended. "You don't think you could have done any better?"

"You _know_ I could have done better," said Ginny without hesitation. She turned her unwavering gaze at him, and their eyes met for the first time since Ron's accident.

"_Oh?_" He made a pause and considered her statement. In his mind he weighed up a question he was almost afraid to ask. She might say no; certainly, it would be safer is she did. But after the display she put up yesterday he was so very intrigued to find out more of her skills. "Maybe you'd like to stand up to your words," he then suggested with a faint smirk, and made a show to bend his neck and glance at the direction of their duelling arena.

Ginny flashed her full grin back at him. "I was afraid you'd never ask."

They walked out to the opening, positioning about six meters apart. They lifted their wands, but Harry soon pointed it down again. "Ginny, wait," he said. "Maybe the Punching hex wasn't such a good idea. We should use something else."

"Not this again!" Ginny growled. "Stop treating me as a weak little girl already!"

"That was not my intention," Harry said calmly. He knew he should choose his words carefully or next he would find himself in dodging practise with Bat-Bogies. "You most definitely reminded us yesterday that you are not weak. But the point of this exercise is to dodge spells. The Punching hex is simply wrong in so many ways. It's relatively slow, and yes, it can hurt, too, and I don't particularly enjoy hurting my friends or getting hurt myself. But right now, I just want something quicker."

That seemed to calm her down. "A Stinging hex?" she suggested, a mischievous grin spreading over her face.

"No! Definitely not." He unwittingly scratched his shoulder where one of Ginny's improved stingers had hit him the day before. Mrs. Weasley's ointment had done miracles and the itching red spots were gone. But there was still kind-of a mental trace left and it made him wish to never face that experience again.

"I suppose I could use the regular version," she said, rolling her eyes.

"The regular…?" Now that Ginny had said it, it sounded such an obvious choice. It was only natural that she was familiar with the regular variation of the Stinging hex as they all had used it occasionally in the DA training sessions. He briefly wondered whatever reasons Tonks had had to teach Ginny the improved version, and whether there were more variations to the spell. "Yes, that should work. Let's try it."

They re-took the duelling stance and Harry, as the winner of coin-toss, fired the first hex. He exaggerated his movements so that it was very obvious when and to which direction his spell was launched. Ginny made a show of it when she easily sidestepped the spell and let her eyes follow the little red spot flowing pass her, and they both chuckled because of his feeble first attempt. He would have to take this more seriously.

Ginny's first hex was much more covert as her purpose was to surprise him right from the beginning. It almost worked, too, but in the last moment Harry managed to bend his body just enough for her spell to miss him. He barely took his time to straighten up when his second hex was already on the way. Ginny ducked under it, and fired her own, and…

"Ginny, stop. Stop!" Harry shouted.

"Now what is it?" Ginny asked, pointing her wand down.

"Something's not right, something about rhythm," Harry said with a frown and in his thoughts. "Let's try something. Aim your wand at that fence." She did that, and so did he. "Shoot your hex at it when I count to three. One… Two... Three!"

They their cast their Stinging hexes simultaneously. However, Ginny's spell left her wand noticeably before Harry's, and it also travelled faster and hit the fence nearly a second ahead. Harry's jaw dropped when he saw the difference. He stared at Ginny in awe and resumed the position. "Again," he said. The did the same with identical results.

"How, Ginny?" he asked. "Is that the… Tonks effect?" He couldn't describe it better.

"Nope," Ginny replied smugly. "It's exactly the spell I've known since my second year."

"Second year… Professor Lupin taught you that?" Harry asked. Ginny nodded, and when the realization hit him, all blood left his face. "Ginny, I learned it from Lockhart!"

Ginny's eyes went wide. "Gilderoy Lockhart? That useless excuse of a wizard? No wonder my class did so well compared to your fifth-years in some DA sessions last winter."

"Yeah," Harry grunted. He understood that even after three years he would have to take another look into every single spell he had learned in Lockhart's classes. If the man had managed to mess up such a simple spell as a Stinging hex, what about the more important spells? He would make a list of those spells and review each and every one of them with Ginny. And right now, he would start with the Stinging hex. "Will you show me how you do it?" he asked.

"What? Me? Teaching The-Boy-Who-Lived defensive magic?" The absurdness of the suggestion made her giggle.

"Please."

Ginny paused, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sobered. She thought how one aspect of their relationship was such that whether they planned it or not, they always ended up having a competition over the smallest things. Not that duelling Harry felt like a small thing to her. But it was always Harry who made sure the game was fair, given the chance. In a broom race he'd change his Firebolt to one of the Weasleys' old Cleansweeps. In an eating competition he'd measure each chunk of ice cream so that every participant had an equal amount. Ginny knew she had an unfair advantage of a better hex and if she happened to win the duel because of it, she wouldn't be able to fully enjoy her victory; something that Harry was aware of, too. It also meant that he was really, _really_ taking her skills seriously which lifted a smile on her face. "Well, I guess it would be more than fair. Come here."

They walked towards each other and met halfway, in the very centre of the arena. "Okay, after watching how you do it, it looks like the spell is essentially the same. If I'm correct it's the wand movement that makes all the difference. So, instead of simply pointing and thrusting," she mimicked his wand movements, "you should twist very lightly while rotating like this."

"Like… this?" Harry said, trying to imitate the movement after her.

"Not quite…"

"Maybe…"

"No, the other way…."

"And the twist..."

"Just a little more left..."

"My left or yours?"

"Yours, you twit..."

"No, show it again…"

"Weren't you supposed to be a quick learner in Defence Against Dark Arts," Ginny snickered. "Wait, what if I…" She reached out for his arm, then stopped to hesitate for a fraction of a second but decided it would be too awkward to pull back now, and at last she just went and took a firm grip of his hand. The touch made him gasp, and she suddenly felt his eyes on her. She dared not to look back at him but instead concentrated on guiding his hand for correct wand movements. "See? Now try it yourself," she said, releasing her grip.

Harry exhaled, realizing he had held his breath all the while of her touch, and shot his spell at the tree. It felt significantly better. "I got it!" he said with a smile, and she smiled, too, as they briefly looked into each other's eyes.

"Now, let's really see what you learned," Ginny said. "On three!"

They repeated the test a few times. Their spells now hit the fence almost the same time, with Ginny having an occasional, marginal advantage only. They suspected it was just a matter of practise. Yet, Harry was shining. "Thank you, Ginny," he said. "You're an excellent teacher."

"Oh, stop it," she said and playfully shoved him away in hope to hide her blushing. She couldn't deny that his praise felt good.

"Now, how about some dodging?" Harry proposed and they took their positions again, this time with a little more distance between them than earlier to adjust to a faster spell. "Five in a turn?"

By coin's decision Harry took the first turn and cast his hexes. Ginny evaded the first two by stepping aside and ducked the third one but went a little too low. Harry reacted to her movement, and quickly shot the last two at her crouching position. She tried to tumble aside, but was not quick enough, and both hexes hit her side. "Someone's a bit rusty," Harry chortled.

Ginny huffed angrily and stood up, then rapidly shot her spells. Harry used his newly learned tactics to bend his upper body left while turning sideways, and easily dodged her first two hexes. Then he chose to change direction and swing right-ways, but while it worked for hexes four and five, the third one hit him into his pelvis. "Gotcha!" Ginny yelled.

"A lucky shot," Harry belittled. He pointed his wand at Ginny again and sent out his Stinging hexes. This time Ginny mimicked Harry and bent left, twisting her body the same way as Harry had done, but then she spun completely around, stopped abruptly, and finally twisted her body to the right. All of his stingers missed her, if only barely. He found his eyebrows raised in appreciation, not on her crafty performance but on how quickly she picked up things.

"HA!" Ginny yelped triumphantly. "You were right. It _is_ more efficient."

"Don't get cocky. It's still 2 to 1, my lead," Harry said.

"Not for long, Potter. It's my turn now!" said Ginny menacingly, and her grin now almost reached her ears.

Harry responded her grin with one of his own and got ready. This was going to be a challenge even tougher than he had anticipated. "Bring it on, Weasley!"

-.-.-.-

Meanwhile in the Burrow, Ron was sitting in a chair by kitchen sink. Hermione had a wet cloth in her hand, and she was using it to carefully clean his face. "Does it hurt?" she asked when he shifted a bit under her touch.

"No," he answered. "I can't feel my nose at all. It's like it's stupefied or something."

"Petrified," his mum said as she came back to kitchen. She put a small basket containing various bottles and jars onto a table nearby and inspected her youngest son. "Thank you, Hermione. You've done perfect job. Now pay attention. I'm sure you'll find this treatment useful sooner or later since the three of you seem to get into all kind of trouble all the time." She began administering some ointment over Ron's nose and explaining the process in the while, until came the question the teens had expected and feared. "What were you doing out there, anyway?"

Ron snapped his eyes at Hermione. Before either of them could come to an answer that wouldn't get them into trouble, Molly calmly continued, "Was it duelling again?"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione, deflated.

"Sorry, mum," said Ron.

But if they had expected an angry lecture about dangers of unsupervised duels, her response surprised them both. She sighed sadly and said, "Well, if only times were different…" They all were quiet for a while but then she visibly perked up and continued. "You know, I was quite a duellist myself once."

"No kidding, mum!"

Molly chuckled. "I was! Among the best of my year at school."

"What about dad?"

"Arthur? Oh, he was alright. Never stood a chance against me, though."

"You two have duelled?" Ron asked.

"You have to tell us about it, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione, her eyes shining.

"Maybe some other time," Molly said, smiling. She finished with the ointment, then lightly touched Ron's nose with the tip of her wand, emitting an orb of warm, orange glow that slowly dissipated into his skin. Hermione watched carefully and memorized the short incantation she used. "All right, it's done. Now you'll just have to keep steady and sit down a few minutes to let it settle properly." She collected the medical equipment back into the basket and stood up to leave.

"Please, mum. If I have to stay put you may as well entertain us with that story," Ron pleaded.

"Oh, fine," she relented with a chuckle. "I'm sure Arthur doesn't mind. But promise me you won't tell anyone!"

They swore they would keep their lips sealed, and she began her story. "Well, it must have been on our fourth year at Hogwarts when they set up a duelling club as part of our Defence Against Dark Arts studies. It was not a large group at that time, and I often found myself paired up with Arthur. He was such a gentleman. At first, I'm sure he let me win occasionally, until I became too good for him and he didn't need to pretend being beaten. Especially on the later years."

She paused, a happy smile playing on her lips as she reminisced something. In a few seconds she shook herself out of her memories. "Anyway, one time he tried to use a levitation spell in a rather creative way. I suddenly felt a tug in the hem of my robes, and off it went! There I was, standing in front of everyone only in my black lace bra and an underskirt, with my robes making circles up at the ceiling. I reckon my temper was somewhere up there as well."

"No way, mum!" Ron yelped.

"Tell us what happened next!" Hermione urged.

"What happened next was that Arthur couldn't take his eyes off my bosom. I became furious and hexed him so that he had to spend the next couple of days in the hospital wing. Deserved a week of detentions myself for using a potentially lethal spell against a classmate. But it was all worth it, eventually."

"How come?" Ron asked.

"You see, once your dad got released from the sick bay, the first thing he did was come and seek me up. He explained that he only tried to levitate me as a distraction of a kind, and not free me from my robes. He was so embarrassed and adorable when he apologized that I couldn't be mad at him any longer. I just had to, right then and there, ask him to be my date for the next Hogsmeade weekend, and hence we started dating. Been a couple ever since."

"_Aww_, that's so cute!" Hemione cooed.

"And one more secret," she said as she lowered her voice and leaned towards Hermione, "Arthur always gives me black lace lingerie on our wedding day. Liked what he saw, I believe."

The women laughed, but Ron groaned, "Too much information!" holding his hands over his face. What happened between his mum and dad behind their bedroom door and anything related was something he really did not want to think about. Ever.

"All right, Ron, I think it's healed well enough now," his mum said after gently examining his nose once more on either side. "You're free to go. Just take it easy for the next few days. And no duelling!"

Ron immediately stood up. "Thanks, mum," he said, and darted out of the kitchen, his face red with embarrassment.

"And thank you for a lovely story, too," said Hermione before she followed him.

She caught him at the backdoor. "I'd never have thought your mum was good at duelling," she said.

"Yeah, me neither," Ron replied as he opened the door to backyard and without even realizing it himself, kept it open for Hermione to pass through first. "Pretty amazing."

"Do you think she would be willing to teach us if we asked her?" Hermione said, appreciating his gentlemanly gesture with great satisfaction.

"I don't know," Ron said unsurely, frowning. "Somehow it makes me feel embarrassed even to think about it. I know it probably shouldn't… But she's Mum! There's something so wrong about the whole idea."

That rouse the little feminist in Hermione. "Why? Because she's a woman?" she said pointedly.

"Hey, I've nothing against women! Tonks is a woman. Did you see me complaining when she helped us train shield charms at Grimmauld place?"

Hermione drew a deep breath, calming herself down, and deciding it wasn't worth another quarrel. "How about we asked you dad? You mum said he was okay in duelling at school, and I'm sure he's learned a lot more since then. Being in the Order and all."

Ron thought about it for a while. "Yeah, I'd be more comfortable with dad teaching us. And maybe, if it's important to you, I could get used to mum, too. But the problem with dad is that he's not…" He stopped talking when the duelling arena came into his sight. "…around."

They both halted, their faces morphing into incredulous expressions, all with widened eyes and open mouths. What they saw was that the Quidditch arena had become a little warzone. Tiny, red-glowing Stinging hexes were whizzing and streaking in every direction as two combatants, Harry and Ginny, circled each other, shooting their spells, ducking, tumbling, flipping and bluffing. They had long ago discarded the turn-based approach. Now they just fired their spells at the opponent as fast as possible and trying to dodge at the same time, using whatever method came to mind. The intensity of their spell casting was something never witnessed at the Burrow backyard, and their hexes were flying at stupendous rapidity. Yet the nature of their erratic movements combined to their reaction times that countless hours on a broom had provided them made it possible for them to evade most of the stingers. And still, quite a many of those spells hit the target and each hit produced a little yelp, or cry, or scream, more often than not followed by a burst of snickers.

After watching the battle for a while in stunned silence and finally deciding that they were having too much fun, Ron cleared his throat and asked loudly, "What's going on?"

The combatants became aware of the newly arrived company and stopped the fight. "Hi Ron, Hermione," Ginny said, almost out of breath.

"Me and Ginny, we just continued from where I left with you, Ron," Harry said and bent down to lean on his knees to gather his breath. "But we decided to use Stinging hex instead. It's working _way_ better than Punching hex."

"Right," said Ron suspiciously. "So, this is still just a dodging practise and nothing else?" _Like a weird mating ritual_, he thought, but didn't say it aloud.

Harry narrowed his eyes, a little annoyed by Ron's tone. "Yes, what else could it possibly be?" he replied sarcastically and decided to change the subject. "How's your nose, by the way?"

"It's alright. Mum was able to fix it."

"Good. Anyway, I'm sorry for what happened. I got a little carried away, I think."

"Yeah, well, don't worry about it. It was an accident. Accidents happen." He took a deep breath. "So, who's winning?"

"Honestly, I've no idea," Harry said, and gave Ginny a look of respect. "We've been counting hits, though. I've twenty-three. Ginny?"

Ginny quickly shot one more hex at Harry's bum, making him jump and yelp. "What a coincidence," she then announced with a straight face. "I've got twenty-three as well."

"You evil, wicked witch!" Harry said with a fake scowl that fooled nobody. Hermione giggled, but Ron didn't know what to say and who to look at.

-.-.-.-

Later in the evening, Harry sat at the porch with a silent Ron and a bottle of butterbeer. The girls were somewhere inside, probably still helping Molly with the dishes after supper. Harry had his eyes closed, letting the last rays of sun warm up his face.

Ron popped his bottle open and took a long gulp. "What's up with you and Ginny?" he asked, unexpectedly and quite bluntly.

The question made Harry start a bit. "Nothing. Why?"

"Seems like you've been enjoying each other's company a lot lately."

"Well, you're wrong," Harry said quickly, perhaps a little too quickly, and then felt a need to explain himself better. "I mean, yeah, she's nice. And funny, and pretty. Brave, too. She's good company and I do like her a lot." He grinned awkwardly and hoped Ron wouldn't notice how flushed he was. "But I like Hermione a lot, and I like you a lot. It doesn't mean I want to snog_ you_."

Ron chuckled, and took another gulp from his bottle. "So, you don't fancy her?"

"Ron, if I ever start to fancy her, you'll be the first I tell about it. That's a promise."

"Okay, mate. Cheers to that."

They lifted their bottles and smacked them together before drinking again.

Inside, right behind the thin door, Ginny was biting her lip. She had just been about to step out when their conversation had stopped her. It surprised her how much Harry's words, as innocent as they were, had hurt her feelings; the feelings she had suppressed and buried years ago, and that now were back with a vengeance. Then, instead of opening the door and going out to join the boys, she ran into her room and buried her face in her pillow. She refused to cry, though, thinking about how Harry Potter may not fancy Ginny Weasley, but at least Harry Potter had noticed her existence. She decided that it alone counted as a personal victory.


	3. Hogwarts

_Author's note: This is my second experiment of a duelling fanfic. First it was supposed to be a standalone story, but then I decided to put it as chapter 3 of the Burrow Champion._

The Hogwarts Champions

_Four days._

_It had to be a record_, thought Harry bitterly.

_Four bloody days. That's all it took for him to get into a duel against Malfoy._

It all had probably begun already in the Hogwarts Express, when Harry had ended up petrified by Malfoy. Then later, there had been the usual bickering, and insults, and threats, on several occasions. Each time his fellow Gryffindors had stood up for him. How could they not to? Now, at this moment, the details were a little more than a blur to him. But he could remember the incident yesterday when Parkinson had thrown the M-word at Hermione, which again had roused Ron and Ginny. One thing led to another, and in a minute Greengrass led Nott to Madam Pomfrey. And before Hermione had had a chance to speak sense into the rest, both Harry and Ginny, as if speaking with one voice, had accepted the duelling challenge thrown at them.

And now Harry was glaring at the Slytherin line some twenty meters in front of him in the middle of the Hogwarts Quidditch arena. But it was not the time. Not yet anyway, so his mind wandered back to yesterday.

Of course, it hadn't taken long for the news leak out, and everybody at school had known about the duel. Therefore, it hadn't come as a surprise that Harry and the party had soon found themselves in a crowded headmaster's office, facing an amused Dumbledore, a grave McGonagall, and a sneering Snape. What had been a surprise, though, was that no detentions were given, no house points taken. Instead, it had been someone's bright idea to use the duel as an educational Defence Against Dark Arts happening. _For the bloody whole school!_

Professor Dumbledore's amplified voice shook Harry back to the present. Dumbledore welcomed the combatants as well as spectators, and he explained the rules and other things that Harry already knew. That's why he wasn't really paying attention and was only vaguely aware of the crowd which included literally everybody; every student, every teacher, Filch, his cat, even some of the ghosts. But Harry only had his mind set up for the duel.

_No, not a duel. A battle._

There was Malfoy, directly in front of Harry, glaring at him with disdain and looking even paler than usual.

There was Nott, standing on the far right, scrawny and tall. His nose seemed to be too small for his face, and it was still in an odd position, despite Madam Pomfrey's best efforts.

Instead of Parkinson there stood her "champion", Crabbe, and instead of Greengrass, there was Goyle. Those dumbass minions of Malfoy had positioned themselves on his left and right, as usual. Draco obviously preferred raw power over wits.

Harry didn't have a need for champions. His team was already the best he could hope for. He resisted the urge to look at them, not wanting to risk taking his eyes off the Slytherins. Not that he really needed to see his teammates. He knew too well how they were.

On his right side stood his best friend, Ron, grim faced, assessing the fictitious chessboard laid in front of him, and ready for anything. Ready to throw himself in front of anything if necessary.

Next to Ron there was Hermione, her wand poised, confident of her skills. The Gryffindor Quidditch robes that she wore she had borrowed from Katie Bell so that her outfit would match the rest of the team. She had promised to return them in the same condition, but Katie had merely shrugged and told her not to mind the robes and just make sure she'd show those Slytherin Snakes their rightful place which is to grovel under the heel of the Gryffindor Lion.

And finally, on Harry's left side, in the position usually reserved for Hermione, stood Ginny, eyes blazing with determination, her fiery hair hanging down on her back, braided into a long, tight plait.

_Ginny_. He'd been thinking about it ever since the challenge had been accepted, but he still didn't know why he was so happy and unhappy at the same time for her being part of this. It wasn't just because she was a girl; he wasn't having the same irrational feelings for Hermione's presence. Maybe it was partly because he and Ron and Hermione had been a team so long. But one thing was for sure. The last few months had proved that if there was a weak link in his line-up, it would not be Ginny. She was strong, and she was smart, and for Merlin's beard she was quick. Nor would it be Hermione, with her wits and resourcefulness. If they somehow against all expectations got into trouble, Hermione would pull them up. And it would not be Ron. Ron was their tactician who would anticipate each move of the Slytherins even before they knew it themselves. And he would saw his leg off for the others. He's just too bloody stubborn to be a weak link.

No, there really was no need for substitutes or so-called champions.

Harry shook himself out of his musings as Dumbledore gave Professor Snape a chance to have a few words. Snape reminded everyone to pay attention, as they would be given their first Defence Against Dark Arts homework considering the duel in analytical perspective, and not even the first-year students would be excused. Harry feared that if the Slytherin team won, homework assignments on the analysis of the duel would take months.

Then at last, it was time. With his amplified voice Snape went through the usual duelling protocol. As if due to a hidden signal, before the first syllable of Snape's last word was out, Draco's team shot their spells, each one exactly on the cue.

However, with the Slytherins, foul play was expected. Each Gryffindor had already raised his or her shield. But the thing that shocked Harry was that every enemy wand was aimed at him. From the appearance of the spells he immediately saw that they were not stunners but something stronger, something specifically meant to tear down shields – or body parts. He tried to strengthen his shield, but it was little use. He could barely withstand the first two spells that hit it, and then, as the third spell made it crumble down, he could only brace himself for the impact.

Fortunately, the impact never came.

"Teamwork, Harry," was Ron's wordless message as their eyes briefly met. It had been Ron's shield which had overlapped Harry's and protected him while leaving Ron himself open to attacks.

They quickly reset their shields to welcome the second line of spells. This time only Malfoy's and Crabbe's spells came, and Harry was easily able to protect himself alone. The girls had already taken down Nott and Goyle who had been foolish to keep on attacking Harry, and not pay attention on the events. Following Ron's battle plan, Ginny had sent her stunning spell diagonally across the field at Nott while Hermione had done the same for Goyle, and the two Slytherins had been taken by surprise, not expecting attack from that direction.

With two of his men down, Malfoy ordered Crabbe to shoot protective shots at the ground between the combatants. Powerful Blasting curses blew up large holes into the Quidditch field and sent dirt against the Gryffindors, forcing them to shield themselves. At the same time, he levitated Snape's heavy oaken desk that had mysteriously been forgotten on the wrong side of the magical barrier that Dumbledore had lifted to protect the spectators from stray spells. He let it crash-land in front of him so that it covered both him and Crabbe when they crouched down. Immediately after that, the remaining Slytherins pulled their mates behind the safety of the desk and began reviving them.

"Shite! They have protection," Harry yelled, unimpressed. He quickly sent a Reductor curse at the desk, just to find out that it was not only physically sturdy but also somehow magically reinforced. "Hermione! You're on. Ginny, stingers!"

Ron knelt down in front of Hermione, facing away from her, and brought his shield up. Harry and Ginny positioned themselves right behind him and began firing their spells over Ron's shield every time they saw something move at the edges of the desk. Harry mainly used a Punching hex as a deterrent whereas Ginny used her amazingly quick, improved version of the Stinging hex and made a few hits at their unaware opponents who were not careful enough when peeking from behind their cover. Their tactics worked until the Slytherins learned to coordinate their strikes, and suddenly all four of them emerged simultaneously from their cover. Malfoy's hex was the first to hit Ron's shield before he was pushed back by a barrage of Ginny's stingers. Goyle never had a chance as Harry's punching hex took him out again, although momentarily. Crabbe's spell went a meter over them and Nott, while he managed to hit Ron's shield, had to dive into cover as both Harry and Ginny pointed their wands at him and one of her three stingers found its mark.

"Hermione! We're running out of time here," Harry yelled. He was now crouching beside Ron, their shields overlapping so that only Ginny was keeping the Slytherins at bay. Draco's team was getting more and more coordinated with their attacks, and the strain of holding up the shield against their powerful spells was beginning to show on the boys.

"Almost done," the bushy-haired witch replied.

"Ready or not, here we come. I think!" Harry cried back, with the pitch of his voice increasing towards the end. The four Slytherins emerged at the same time and sent their strongest spells at the ground right in front of Ron and Harry. Their shields nearly collapsed, and Ginny tumbled aside while the boys got thrown backwards and over a meter-high concrete wall that now stood between them and Hermione. They landed hard but seemingly unharmed, and quickly crawled into better cover of the wall. A second later, Ginny followed them, barely evading Nott's Cutting curse.

"What took you so long?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Honestly! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to transfigure dirt?" Hermione huffed with annoyance.

"Not the faintest, I've never succeeded with transfiguring dirt into anything at all," Harry said, interrupting their quarrel before it would escalate. "Now shut up, and fight. Both of you." He took a quick peek above the wall, then returned before a Bludgeoning hex reached him. "Ron, what do you think?"

"Well, they're using quite dangerous spells at high power levels, and I'm sure some of them aren't even allowed. Luckily, their teamwork is flimsy at best," Ron replied as he wiped dirt off of his face. "Although I'd like to know how they time their joint discharges. Only Malfoy has any variety in his attacks, maybe Nott, too."

"Crabbe and Goyle can't hit a wall," Ginny added. "But Nott's got good aim and some fancy moves. I think he's one to watch out."

"Agreed. And if Snape and Dumbledore allow them the use of unallowed spells, we don't necessarily have the same luxury. We'll beat them using only spells of non-lethal potential. Understood?" Harry said as he took another peek over the well. "They're all standing again. Hermione, you try to keep Nott busy. Formation C. Ready? NOW!"

The Gryffindors spread out from the cover of their wall, and all hell broke loose. Harry ducked under Goyle's Bludgeoning hex while his own spell stunned Crabbe. Ginny had to make an extra roll to her left to dodge a stray Blasting curse and quickly introduced her stingers to Goyle. Ron's and Malfoy's spells missed their respective targets while Hermione's stunner made Nott's shield tremble.

Goyle dived into the cover of Snape's desk to recover from his pain and dragged the stunned Crabbe with him. Harry stepped closer to Ron and used his shield to deflect Malfoy's curse that was aimed at Ron while Ron charged his stunner, to release it right after Harry dropped his shield. The Slytherins were now in defensive but that soon changed when Goyle managed to enervate Crabbe. They both stood up, and another simultaneous spell discharge was aimed at Harry. This time it was Ginny's shield that gave Harry the needed extra protection. However, just as Harry turned his head to thank Ginny for her help, he was horrified to see how she received a direct hit to her face from a Punching hex that made her do a spectacular spin in the air.

"Take that, Weaslette!" Malfoy yelled triumphantly, having anticipated Ginny's move to shield Harry. In their training sessions he had used his hex with great success, constantly knocking out both Crabbe and Goyle, and he was positive that the girl would be out for good.

"No!" Harry yelled, and his stomach twisted painfully when he watched how Ginny went down, but he had little time to recuperate. Welcoming his rising anger, he turned his full attention back to Malfoy, just in time to step aside his Bludgeoning hex, and got ready to retaliate.

Draco sneered and raised his shield to absorb Harry's set of furious spells. He quickly stepped aside and sent another Punching hex at Harry. Harry ducked Draco's spell and replied with a stunner that Draco easily dodged. That was the last spell he dodged, as in the next moment he fell down in agony, trying to shield himself from bats that came out from his mouth and nose.

Harry recognized the spell that had hit Draco and snapped his gaze to his left. There he saw a grimly looking Ginny on her knees and spitting blood out of his mouth. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," the girl grunted and finished her job with a listless flick of her wand that sent a stunning spell at the easy-to-hit Malfoy. "I'm glad I noticed his hex when I still had time to react and soften the impact. Just give me a second," she continued, and slumped down behind Hermione's wall to shake off her disorientation.

At the same time, Nott was licking his wounds in the cover of Snape's desk, overwhelmed by Hermione's spell-work. But he would soon learn that there's no shelter in the battlefield with Hermione Granger. Hermione conjured a flock of pointy beaked birds and made them fly to the backside of the desk. And then they took aim and sped ahead. Not all of them hit, of course, because Hermione couldn't see Nott, but he received a couple of painful hits that made him howl in pain.

Goyle targeted Ron in order to send a Blasting curse at him but got hit by Harry's _Expelliarmus_ first. His wand flew from his hand and landed far behind the Gryffindors. Ginny returned to the fight just in time to shield Harry again against Crabbe's hex. Her perfect timing when she dropped her shield, let Harry very quickly send his stunner at Crabbe, who barely had the wits to dive into cover.

Hermione noticed her chance and quickly levitated the unarmed Goyle up in the air, higher and higher, until she dropped him down where she assumed Nott was lying. Nott, who had just finished pulling the stunned Malfoy to him, sensed danger from above. He saw Goyle's flailing body falling down on him and reacted by instinct with a Banishing spell which blew his fellow Slytherin away and towards his enemies.

Just by dumb luck, Goyle flew directly at Ron who barely managed to soften the collision before they became a pile of entangled limbs. Finally, they succeeded in standing up, and fell into hand-to-hand combat, with Goyle having a firm grip on Ron's wand arm to keep him from making any spells.

Goyle was stronger and a lot heavier than Ron, but in addition to being a little taller, Ron had one significant advantage over Goyle; five older brothers, not to mention the world's most irritating little sister. While he didn't have boxing or martial arts training any more than Goyle, living within the large family at Burrow had taught him to defend himself. Hand-to-hand combat came as an instinct.

Harry briefly watched Ron struggling with Goyle, pondering how to help him when a terrifying shriek tore his attention elsewhere. "Hermione!" he yelled, as the bushy-haired witch took cover behind the wall, clutching her left shoulder that was quickly turning red from blood. He shot hexes towards the Slytherins while moving closer to her. "What happened?"

"A Cutting curse," Hermione answered. "I don't know where it came. I… I can't stop the bleeding!"

Harry knelt beside Hermione and tried to rip her sleeve to gain access to the wound, but the girl held it tight and shook her head. He added his own hands upon Hermione's and watched helplessly how a pool of blood was forming between them, no matter what they did. As much as he hated it, he knew what he had to do. "Okay. Okay. We'll surrender. I'm calling for Madam Pomfrey." He already raised his wand up into air, but Hermione stopped him.

"Harry, wait! Let me try one more thing." She let go of the wound and even more blood gushed out. Then, with a shaking hand, she quickly picked up her wand that she had discarded earlier and pointed it at her shoulder while muttering a spell.

And just like that the flow of blood stopped, and Hermione's face relaxed as the pain subsided.

"What happened? How did you heal it?" Harry asked.

"I didn't," Hermione replied. "I just petrified it. I won't be able to move my left arm, and I don't know how long the spell will hold. I assume I'll have a couple of minutes and not much more."

"Then we better end this quickly," said Ron, appearing at her side. He had a bruised lip and a bloody nose, and he seemed to be missing a tuft of hair, but he appeared to be in fighting condition.

"What happened to Goyle?" Harry asked, not daring to look behind as he fired a set of quick jinxes at Crabbe.

"Stunned," Ron stated grimly. "First by fist, then by wand."

"Good. Now get up. I'm getting tired of that table."

They stood up again. Ron and Ginny quickly yelled a Reductor curse at the desk, thus weakening its protections, so that Harry's powerful Severing charm was finally able to cleave the desk in two chunks, sending splinters in every direction. As the desk parted, it uncovered the people hiding behind it. Hermione's stunner took care of Nott before he could raise his shield, and Crabbe was hit by Ginny's a second later. Only Malfoy was quick enough to follow the larger piece of the severed desk and dive into its cover before any spells reached him.

With three of the four Slytherins down, the Gryffindors came to open and neared Draco's hiding place warily.

"Come out, Draco," Harry said. "It's over."

They waited.

Several long seconds passed until Draco abruptly stood up, facing away from them. He stepped clear from his cover, at the same time turning around to face at them. There was little left of his usual arrogance. His expensive robes were torn, and they were stained red and black of his own blood as he was bleeding from the gashes all over his body. A large splinter of wood was sticking out of his shoulder, and the visible part of his skin was covered in red spots where Stinging hexes had hit him. He was bruised and he limped heavily. His face was contorted with rage, and he still held his wand, although it pointed down.

"Yield!" Harry commanded. "It's over. You can't win."

"Never!" Draco spat. He was trembling, torn between his fear and pride. His breathing quickened and deepened, and he shook in his place a few seconds as if gathering energy from his rage. Then he thrusted his wand forward, towards Harry, and yelled a Blasting curse.

Harry was ready and understood that Draco was putting all his remaining magic into that single curse. He knelt down to one knee and lifted his shield, hardening it with his mind to absorb anything that was coming.

Except that the curse never left Draco's wand.

Draco had not finished his incantation when Ginny had reacted. Her 'Expelliarmus' snatched Draco's wand from his hand and sent him flying backwards. Less than a second later, Ron's 'Stupefy' reached Draco's body mid-air, immediately followed by Hermione's 'Petrificus Totalus'. Ginny easily caught Draco's wand while Draco himself flew fifteen meters back and did not rise any more.

A momentary silence fell over the battlefield. It seemed absurd as everywhere around them the crowd was in uproar. The four Gryffindors stayed frozen, wands poised and in readiness, as if not quite believing the battle was over.

"That will take them some time to work out," Ron muttered, being the first one to come out of the stupor and bringing the rest with him.

Harry nodded. He let his shield fall and slowly stood up. He knew what Ron meant; it would be a complex task to revive Draco as three spells had hit him the same time. It might be wise to just wait and let the spells wear off on their own. "You know, I wanted to be the one to finish him off. But thanks guys, this was good, too," Harry said.

It was a loud horn-blow from Dumbledore's direction that officially ended the battle. At the same time, the protective barrier was lifted, allowing medical personnel to rush in. A mediwizard from St Mungo's took his team to take care of the Slytherins while Madam Pomfrey herself headed towards Harry. With her came a small group of sixth and seventh year Hufflepuffs.

"Four days, Mr Potter?" Madam Pomfrey said, clearly annoyed for something, and forced him to lay down onto a conjured stretcher.

"I'm sorry about all this, Madam Pomfrey," Harry said. "But you should treat my friends first. There's nothing wrong with me."

"I'll be the judge of that," Madam Pomfrey said dryly, and ran a diagnostic scan on Harry. She frowned and did the same again. "This can't be right," she muttered.

"What is it?" Harry asked. Madam Pomfrey's tone had seriously worried him. "I feel fine – a little tired, maybe, but I don't feel like anything's wrong with me."

"Yes, that's the point," Madam Pomfrey replied. "I can't find the tiniest injury in you. You must understand, Mr Potter, that I've become accustomed to having you in the infirmary from whatever reason. And now, you come out of a vicious battle without a scratch." She shook her head in disbelief.

Harry grinned back with relief. "Well, I do have an angry zit in my cheek. Maybe you could cure that, once you've got nothing better to do," he joked.

But the experienced healer was not amused. She stared him sharply into eye for a while, long enough to make him feel uncomfortable, and then she abruptly spun away without a word and stepped over to Hermione whose stretcher was closest to Harry.

Sitting up on his stretcher, Harry turned his attention to Ron who was joking with Hannah Abbott. Hannah had already cured a small scratch in his forehead and was now cleaning blood stains and preparing him for Madam Pomfrey's inspection. The Hufflepuff laughed shortly, but Ron's eyes were already moving on to Harry's other side, to check on Hermione, briefly stopping on Harry on their way.

Inspired by Ron's gaze, Harry glanced back at Hermione and was surprised to notice that Madam Pomfrey was already moving on to Ginny. He couldn't quite decide if that was a good or a bad sign, regarding Hermione's condition. "What's the prognosis, Hermione?" he asked.

"Oh, I'll be okay," Hermione answered drowsily. "Madam Pomfrey reapplied the petrification and gave me some potion that seems to be making me quite sleepy." She suddenly giggled in a way uncommon to her. "And a bit giddy, too." Then she slowly passed out with a smile on her face. Finally, a pair of Hufflepuffs levitated her stretcher and began to transport her towards the infirmary.

Harry turned around again as he heard Madam Pomfrey threaten to petrify Ginny, too, if she didn't agree to lay down on a stretcher. The girl claimed that she was perfectly able to walk herself, but the matron was insistent. And soon it happened that Ginny received the same treatment as Hermione a minute before her, with Hannah levitating her stretcher away. Harry shook in silent laughter as they passed him on their way, and Ginny rolled her eyes with exasperation but at last gave him a thumbs up. She would be fine in no time.

"I faked my headache," Ron whispered as his stretcher floated by next. "Why walk when you can get a nice service like this for free?"

Harry could only laugh at his antics as he followed him towards the sick bay.

-.-.-.-

Late in the evening, with just an hour till curfew, Harry returned to the hospital wing. While passing by he gave a brief glance at the bed where Draco Malfoy lay, still petrified, and his fellow Slytherins deep asleep in beds next to him. But his thoughts were at the other end of the infirmary where a lone, redheaded figure lay, propped up with pillows, and reading a book.

"Good book, Ginny?" Harry asked as he slumped down to a chair beside her bed.

The girl started as if woken up, and it took her a moment to focus her gaze into his eyes. He didn't miss the almost reflexive move with which she pulled her long hair to cover the swelling side of her face. "I don't know, really," she answered, smiling drowsily and quickly tucking her book which looked a lot like a muggle romance novel under her pillow. "I haven't reached page two yet. Keep dozing off. Can't sleep, can't stay awake."

"Yeah, that happens to me, too," Harry chuckled, and took another look around at the nearby, empty beds. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"I thought they were with you," Ginny said questioningly. Harry shook his head and she continued. "We heard there's a party going on in the Common room for our victory. Ron insisted to be there, and coaxed Hermione to go with him. Madam Pomfrey let them go as there was no real medical reason to keep them here; that's what she said. It was not so long ago; I'm sure you can still catch up with them."

"And they left you here alone just like that, to keep Malfoy company!"

"Yeah. Got to grow a new tooth apparently."

"Skele-Gro? _Ouch_! So that's why you can't sleep. Growing new bones is painful."

"You should know," Ginny smirked, reminiscing the incident on Harry's second year, then grimaced in pain when her regenerating tooth didn't like the new arrangement of her facial muscles.

Harry smiled at her with compassion. He leaned forward and reached to push her hair over her shoulder to get a better look at her face. He moved slowly enough to give her a chance to stop him, but she did no such thing. Instead, she inhaled sharply when she braced herself, then boldly raised her jaw and met his gaze.

"I know I look like shite," she said. "But you should see the other guy?"

Harry's smile got bigger, both because of her lame joke and the fact that she was in shape to attempt one. He shook his head with amusement, and the words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them. "I think you look beautiful. As always. That," he waved his hand at her swelling cheek, "will pass."

Ginny's eyes widened, and her breath hitched. She knew that it wasn't Harry's style to share undeserved compliments. His words and the way they were said, so easily and with certainty, suddenly made her dizzy in a pleasant way, and she had to turn her eyes down at her lap. "Thank you. That's a sweet thing to say," she managed to croak while attempting to clear her head. _So, what if Harry Potter thought that she, the little Ginny Weasley, was beautiful? It didn't have to mean anything._ Too afraid to continue that line of thought she forced herself to change the subject. "So, where were you all this time?" she asked. "I mean, you just disappeared soon after walking us here."

"I came back as soon as I could. Had a chat with Dumbledore," Harry replied as if it explained everything. His smile waned, and the mood shifted. "Dean?"

Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide her disappointment on her boyfriend's behaviour. "He visited. For about two minutes before he returned to the party."

"I knew he was an idiot," Harry snapped.

"Hey! Only I am allowed to call him an idiot," Ginny said firmly. "I may let you call him a git, though," she added after a meaningful pause.

They talked for hours, well past the curfew, about everything and nothing, their friendly bantering always present and looking for a chance to surface. When they both yawned simultaneously, Harry decided it was time to leave. He gently held her arm as he wished her good night.

"Thank you for keeping me company," Ginny said, smiling a drowsy, happy smile. Unconsciously, she twisted her arm so that she was able to grip his wrist, and her eyes locked into his.

"Anytime, Ginny," Harry replied. He rose from his seat but when she didn't let go and he didn't try to remove his hand, they ended up holding each other's arms.

"I'm sorry you missed the party," she said, just to make him stay a little longer.

"Don't be. I'd rather spend time with you than be in a stupid party."

"Really?"

"Really!"

A slight frown appeared on Ginny's forehead. "_Hmm_. Not that I'm complaining but don't you find it a bit odd that you're here when you could be celebrating with your best friends Ron and Hermione?"

"Well, no, not odd at all," Harry replied. "Unlike _some_ people, I don't let my friends suffer alone in a sick bay if I can help it. And you are my friend, too, you know."

Being called his friend warmed her heart, but at the same time something in his tone made Ginny take a closer look at him. She saw he was flustered and couldn't help but tease him a little. "Just a friend?"

Harry didn't have a response for that. Being friends with Ginny was great, but the word 'friendship' didn't seem quite adequate to describe his feelings for her anymore. He swallowed and licked his lips. They stared at each other, both of them reluctant to break their contact, both of them unwilling to break the tension that was building up between them.

"Mr Potter! Are you hurt?" came a question suddenly, sounding awfully loud in the otherwise silent infirmary.

Harry yanked his hand away from Ginny and stumbled a quick couple of steps back. "No, Madam Pomfrey," he said, unable to comprehend how the matron had gotten so close without either of them noticing. "I'm quite okay."

"Then you have no reason to be here at this hour. If you haven't disappeared from my eyes by the time I've counted to ten, I'll report you to Mr Filch!" The matron's expression could not have been sterner.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey. Sorry, Madam Pomfrey," he stammered, and yelped a quick goodbye to Ginny before dashing out, pacing so fast that any faster would have been considered running which was strictly forbidden in the sick bay.

Ginny watched him go, feeling relief that they had escaped punishment. When the doors of the infirmary had closed behind him and the last echo of his footsteps had died, she turned to Madam Pomfrey, who was now looking at her intently and obviously failing to hold back an amused grin. Who would have thought that the serious matron had a mischievous side in her?

She smiled privately while Madam Pomfrey leaned over her to make a brief examination on the state of her tooth. _Yes, this was going to be a very interesting school year._ With that in mind, Ginny was finally able to fall into sleep.


End file.
